Our new patio is the perfect spot for our solar oven. At our old house, we had to move the oven from the back yard to the front yard as the day went by (sometimes in the middle of cooking something) because the yard was so small and the house next door was so close that we didn’t get constant sun in any one spot for long. But our new backyard is like a gigantic sun deck. It gets sun all day long, and the patio extends far enough back from the house that it doesn’t get shaded by the house until evening. Not only is this good news for our garden, but it’s also great for the sun oven.
Yesterday, I picked a bell pepper from the potted pepper plants we brought with us from the old house (they were in our hydroponic garden, and now live in pots in the back yard). Then I stuck it in the sun oven for half an hour or so, and ended up with a perfectly roasted pepper. I wanted to make veggie sandwiches, and figured a roasted bell pepper would be perfect. It was. We had great sandwiches, and I loved the fact that the pepper grew on our patio, and was then moved all of about three feet to the sun oven where it roasted. About as local and energy-efficient as possible.
Today I decided to try making a loaf of bread in the sun oven. My husband has done this before, but I hadn’t. For some reason, I’m always hesitant to tackle any baking project that uses yeast. I’ll make baking powder biscuits, and all sorts of fantastic raw desserts that I find over at Kristen’s site, but not things like bread. I think I’ve used dead yeast in the past, and had loaves of bread turn out flat, and that’s what was discouraging me. But no more. This morning I decided that a loaf of bread was not going to outsmart me. I found a recipe online, sort of followed the instructions, and this is what I just pulled out of the sun oven:
I can’t wait for lunchtime so that we can break into it. It smells amazing, looks great, rose up just like it’s supposed to, and in general boosted my confidence when it comes to baking bread. All without heating up my kitchen or using any electricity.
M- says
did you buy or make your solar oven?
FrugalBabe says
M – We bought it used, on Craigs List. Technically it was new though, as it was still in the original box and the pans were still shrink-wrapped. But we got it for about half price that way. It’s a “Sun Oven” brand. We read a lot about making our own before we purchased it, but read that the homemade ones rarely attain the sort of temps that the manufactured ones reach (ours routinely gets above 300 degrees and stays there). Although now that my husband is welding everything in sight, I’m sure he’d tackle making a sun oven if we didn’t already have one!
Kelly says
Nice work on the bread! I was the same way – a little apprehensive about making yeast breads. I think my past mishaps were due to bad yeast and just the other day I made an awesome french bread which has renewed my confidence that I can indeed make bread. Next I am going to tackle a regular loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread. Of course, mine is made in a normal oven, but it is still better than store bought. And since the only edible brands I can find that don’t have HFCS and other strange ingredients are at least $2.50 a loaf, making my own bread will save me probably about $100 a year. It doesn’t seem like a ton, but every little bit I can shave off my grocery bill is a huge victory for me!
Alissa says
Congrats, that’s awesome!! We’re trying to remove bread from our grocery list as well… we keep a few emergency store-bought loaves in the freezer, but I try to make ours whenever possible… although not in a solar oven! That’s way cool. :)
Frugal Undergrad says
Wow, that’s fantastic. That loaf of bread looks really yummy, plus it cost next to nothing!
Chloe (Naturally Frugal) says
Mmmm, I love freshly baked bread. What’s great about making it at home is you can add (or subtract) anything you want. I love making whole wheat with oatmeal and maybe some sunflower or flax seeds thrown in. I was also discouraged by making my own bread until I got a bread maker (for $15 off craigslist) and now love it. Although, a solar oven would definitely boost my “green power” since I wouldn’t have to plug it in.
Congrats on your successful loaf!
April says
Whew. I saw the title of the blog and thought you weren’t going to stop eating bread, and I was going to cry for you! But homemade rocks! And you are really making me want a sun oven. I live in Texas…I could open a solar bakery with all of the sun we get.
April says
WERE not WEREN’T. Grr.
April says
Also–knowing how much you use/love it now, if you couldn’t find a “used” one on Craigslist or elsewhere, would it be worth it to you buy one full-price? I can’t seem to find any deals on these, but I’d really like one, especially during these killer Texas summers when I want zucchini bread but can’t bear the thought of turning on the oven.
Kay says
Wow!!! That’s just awesome. We don’t buy it too – I make my own using the electric oven or breadmaker. but yours is fantastic.
So, tell us – how was the bread!! :)
Green Joyment says
Hey!
Glad that the bread backing worked for you, and congratulations!
Thanks for linking to the recipe as well. Hope you enjoyed it! I made a solar cooked cinnamon raisin bread about 3 weeks ago in our homemade funnel cooker. it got up above 250 for the first time due to the mirror I added outside the cooker.
I videoed the whole process, so I’ll have to get that put together and get the video live.
There’s nothing like eating bread cooked by the sun. Somehow it’s just different.
Again, Congrats!
Jonathan
FrugalBabe says
The bread turned out fantastic! I sliced it up and put it in the freezer, and we’ve been pulling out slices as we need them ever since. It’s disappearing alarmingly fast though… guess I’ll be baking another loaf soon!
Jonathan – your recipe is awesome, and will be my standby from now on. It was easy, and turned out great. Looking forward to seeing your enhanced homemade solar oven too!
Sheri (Green & Crunchy) says
That looks scrumptious! I am amazed that that was baked by the heat of the sun!
hope you had some yummy sandwiches!
Sheri
Frugal Trenches says
Absolutely fabulous! Love the photo too, looks so wholesome! You sound so happy & I’m very happy for you!